2017 Volkswagen Golf leaked ahead of official debut

First pictures of VW's Golf facelift show an interior and exterior makeover, with the full car due to be revealed at midday...

Darren Moss

10 November 2015

A facelifted version of the Volkswagen Golf will go on sale in the UK early in 2017, and these first leaked images show what to expect. The full car will be revealed at midday, so check back then for our full story.

The Golf – a mass-market rival for other family hatchbacks including the Seat Leon, Ford Focus, Vauxhall Astra and Renault Mégane – is regularly one of the best-selling cars in the UK. It's also one of the best cars outright, offering a comfortable ride and smart interior while being easy to drive and relatively practical.

These first images, which were first revealed by Chinese media, show the visual updates applied to the Golf. As well as new bumpers at the front and rear, we can see a raft of upgrades for the interior - including the adoption of the 12.5in Virtual Cockpit display already available in Audi models. The system replaces conventional analogue dials with a configurable digital display.

As well as mild styling changes and equipment upgrades, this Golf facelift will also introduce a new petrol-electric 'mild' hybrid powertrain, which will be offered alongside the existing petrol and diesel models, as well as revised versions of the Golf GTE hybrid and the e-Golf electric car.

The new mild hybrid powertrain, which uses a 1.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine, is said to be capable of returning 60mpg under real-world conditions.

Unlike conventional hybrids, which see petrol engines and electric motors both providing power, mild hybrids use an oversized starter motor and generator to give temporary assistance to the engine, thus giving the car extra pulling power when needed. In reality, the system should help the updated Golf to accelerate more quickly than today's car while continuing to return impressive fuel economy.

A facelifted version of the e-Golf is likely to be revealed at the same time as the regular car. Crucially, the e-Golf will feature a more advanced battery, which will boost its driving range to around 186 miles, or 68 miles further than the current model. It will also get more power from its electric motor and should be around 20kg lighter than the current model.

Elsewhere, we expect to see improvements to fuel economy and CO2 emissions on the rest of the Golf's extensive engine range, which currently includes 1.2, 1.4 and 2.0-litre petrol engines and 1.4 and 2.0-litre diesels. Of the current crop, our favourite is the 1.4 TSI 125.

Volkswagen is also likely to bolster the available equipment on its S, Bluemotion, Match, GT and R Line specifications. Our recommended Match Edition currently comes with automatic lights and wipers, rear parking sensors, an alarm and adaptive cruise control with autonomous emergency braking.